35th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall
35th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall
It’s been 35 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent collapse of an entire political system. These events marked the high point of what came to be known as the Peaceful Revolution in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The tremendous courage of those who took a stand against the GDR
dictatorship – and the joy felt around the world at the highly symbolic breach of the Iron Curtain on 9 November 1989 – would go down in history. Every five years, the city of Berlin celebrates the anniversary of that historic night by organising a special, city-wide event: in 2009, it was the “dominoes” project; in 2014, the “border of lights” project; and in 2019, a project that involved huge projections at seven sites of the Peaceful Revolution. Each of these events called attention to the significance of 9 November 1989 and provided millions of people with information and insight. Today, the anniversary of the Peaceful Revolution and the fall of the Berlin Wall remains one of the most important annual commemorative events – for Berlin and the entire country. In 2024, the events marking the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Wall will no doubt attract a great deal of international attention to the capital.
These values, above all freedom and democracy, play a very special role in this year’s 35th anniversary. After all, the demands expressed by courageous people on banners and signs when the SED dictatorship was overthrown are increasingly relevant today.
In this spirit, the motto of the “35th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall” project will be: Hold Freedom Up High!
Hold Freedom Up High!
From June to November, numerous partners will invite the public to get involved in a variety of workshops, activities and discussions where they’ll be encouraged to reflect on the key values expressed in 1989/90 and their significance for our society today. The thoughts and ideas produced by these debates and encounters will then be displayed on signs, posters and banners.
On and around 9 November 2024, these signs, posters and banners will form the basis of a unique, large-scale presentation along the path of the former Berlin Wall. Thirty-five years after the fall of the Wall, the presentation will draw on the words of thousands of people to symbolically overcome the dividing line
that once made its way through Berlin. The presentation of the thousands of statements complements the historical exhibition, in which the history and significance of the Peaceful Revolution is told and categorized with the help of posters from 1989/90.
Funding and Partnerships
The 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Peaceful Revolution is being conceived and implemented by Kulturprojekte Berlin in cooperation with the Berlin Commissioner for the Investigation of the SED Dictatorship, the Berlin Wall Foundation, the Robert-Havemann-Gesellschaft, the Federal Foundation for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Germany and many other partners.
An initiative of the State of Berlin and the Governing Mayor, funded by the Berlin Commissioner for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship and the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion, with partial project funding for the book publication from the Lotto Foundation Berlin.
